Cannot delete a folder (C:\Cygwin64)

[Con]

This directory has been a thorn in my side for quite some time.

 

I want to remove it, but I receive this error message:

 

I have tried so many things, ranging from using the default Administrator account to booting into CMD and attempting a delete from there, but nothing is working.

 

It would be a bit awkward physically plugging the system drive into something else because it uses an M.2 slot, which none of my other devices have.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[SCHISCHKA]

i dont recall cygwin making itself readonly.

Do you remember installing cygwin?

[Changis]

14 minutes ago, Con said:

This directory has been a thorn in my side for quite some time.

 

I want to remove it, but I receive this error message:

 

I have tried so many things, ranging from using the default Administrator account to booting into CMD and attempting a delete from there, but nothing is working.

 

It would be a bit awkward physically plugging the system drive into something else because it uses an M.2 slot, which none of my other devices have.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

do you have a windows install usb/dvd? boot that until you get to the install menu, press shift 11 to bring up the cmd window, this way you are outside your regular windows install and should be able to delete it from there make sure you are on the correct drive and write 

del /f c:\cygwin64

(this assumes the drive shows up as c: in windows install, though sometimes it is d: just change the driveletter accordingly)

[Con]

On 01/07/2017 at 2:07 PM, Changis said:

do you have a windows install usb/dvd? boot that until you get to the install menu, press shift 11 to bring up the cmd window, this way you are outside your regular windows install and should be able to delete it from there make sure you are on the correct drive and write 

del /f c:\cygwin64

(this assumes the drive shows up as c: in windows install, though sometimes it is d: just change the driveletter accordingly)

I just tried that and did didn't work. Thanks for the advice though.

I got into CMD as x:/sources and typed del /f c:\cygwin64, it said "Are you sure? y/n" and I typed "y" and hit enter. I restarted and the folder is still here giving me the same error when I try to delete it.

[Nizmo]

Go to the security tab and add full permissions to your user. You should be able to delete it afterwards.

[Changis]

1 hour ago, Con said:

I just tried that and did didn't work. Thanks for the advice though.

I got into CMD as x:/sources and typed del /f c:\cygwin64, it said "Are you sure? y/n" and I typed "y" and hit enter. I restarted and the folder is still here giving me the same error when I try to delete it.

install CCleaner and check startup and scheduled tasks for anything related, it might be rebuilt after deletion, typically hidden in scheduled startup as it's not as easy to find as startup (unless you use CCleaner which makes that easy )

[Con]

On 05/07/2017 at 2:02 PM, Nizmo said:

Go to the security tab and add full permissions to your user. You should be able to delete it afterwards.

Thank you for your advice; I have literally changed everything about ownership to my account, even deleting the supposed previous owner of the folder from any permissions at all. This is what it looks like now:

 

So when I go to delete it, instead of giving me a permissions error, it will count all the data to delete, then give me this:

 

And after clicking "Continue" I get stuck on this window which freezes at this exact state for a very long time:

 

And eventually it will show me this:

 

Bare in mind, I am logged in as user 'C' and this computer is 'PRODIGAL'.

 

At this point I am just caught in a loop:

 

On 05/07/2017 at 2:45 PM, Changis said:

install CCleaner and check startup and scheduled tasks for anything related, it might be rebuilt after deletion, typically hidden in scheduled startup as it's not as easy to find as startup (unless you use CCleaner which makes that easy )

I'm afraid that isn't working either. There's nothing here.

[Changis]

58 minutes ago, Con said:

-snip-

have you tried downloading Ubuntu and running it off an USB and deleting it through that? i don't think Ubuntu cares about windows permissions, at least not in root (correct me if i'm wrong) though if it's an nvme drive and not a ahci m.2 you might have to get some help from people who know Linus Linux  to get the nvme drives to show if you can't find sata/raid drivers for it.
anyone correct me if i'm wrong, Linux is not my strong side, but i know the bootable Ubuntu distro has helped a lot with stubborn files like that, even managed to recognize and format some USB drives that just didn't want to work in windows no matter what i tried.

[Donghurt]

Give your domain user the NTFS permission 'full control' for "this folder only".

[TetraSky]

44 minutes ago, Changis said:

have you tried downloading Ubuntu and running it off an USB and deleting it through that? i don't think Ubuntu cares about windows permissions, at least not in root (correct me if i'm wrong) though if it's an nvme drive and not a ahci m.2 you might have to get some help from people who know Linus Linux  to get the nvme drives to show if you can't find sata/raid drivers for it.
anyone correct me if i'm wrong, Linux is not my strong side, but i know the bootable Ubuntu distro has helped a lot with stubborn files like that, even managed to recognize and format some USB drives that just didn't want to work in windows no matter what i tried.

This is what I was about to suggest myself ^

Just grab the ISO for any Linux distribution(like Ubuntu), either burn it to a DVD or make a bootable USB with Rufus. No need for install, it should boot to a "live" OS that lets you test the OS before installing it, running it from your RAM. From there simply "mount" your windows drive, navigate to it, delete the folder.

Since windows permissions means NOTHING to linux, it should be able to delete it.

 

Personally, I used PartedMagic to do this kind of stuff before, but it has since became a pay to use software.... (you can still find the old free version of it on the web though... or the newer version since it's literally just a ISO anyway)

[Changis]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

windows permissions means NOTHING to linux, it should be able to delete it.

[Con]

47 minutes ago, Changis said:

have you tried downloading Ubuntu and running it off an USB and deleting it through that? i don't think Ubuntu cares about windows permissions, at least not in root (correct me if i'm wrong) though if it's an nvme drive and not a ahci m.2 you might have to get some help from people who know Linus Linux  to get the nvme drives to show if you can't find sata/raid drivers for it.
anyone correct me if i'm wrong, Linux is not my strong side, but i know the bootable Ubuntu distro has helped a lot with stubborn files like that, even managed to recognize and format some USB drives that just didn't want to work in windows no matter what i tried.

My M.2 drive is what I believe to be one of the very early ones from Samsung (but I could be wrong), the full name is "MZHPV256HDGL-00000", also known as a SM951 256GB;

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-sm951-256gb-m.2-pci-e-gen3-8gbps-x-4-ahci-solid-state-drive-mzhpv256hdgl-00000-hd-207-sa.html

 

Here's a picture of it 2 years ago from when I was just assembling my current rig. 12th of August 2015 I think this picture was taken:

 

I haven't actually used Ubuntu properly and I have minimal experience with Linux. Will I be able to boot into Ubuntu off of a USB storage drive without installing anything and just navigate to C:\?

 

Forgive my ignorance, I can't even remember if deleting folders is easy enough on Linux, but the answer to that is just a Google search away... I'll look into it now. Thank you.

 

34 minutes ago, Donghurt said:

Give your domain user the NTFS permission 'full control' for "this folder only".

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by this; I've tried changing permissions.

 

7 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

This is what I was about to suggest myself ^

Just grab the ISO for any Linux distribution(like Ubuntu), either burn it to a DVD or make a bootable USB with Rufus. No need for install, it should boot to a "live" OS that lets you test the OS before installing it, running it from your RAM. From there simply "mount" your windows drive, navigate to it, delete the folder.

Since windows permissions means NOTHING to linux, it should be able to delete it.

All right, thank you. I will take a crack at it with the bootable USB method.

[Changis]

9 minutes ago, Con said:

My M.2 drive is what I believe to be one of the very early ones from Samsung (but I could be wrong), the full name is "MZHPV256HDGL-00000", also known as a SM951 256GB;

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-sm951-256gb-m.2-pci-e-gen3-8gbps-x-4-ahci-solid-state-drive-mzhpv256hdgl-00000-hd-207-sa.html

 

Here's a picture of it 2 years ago from when I was just assembling my current rig. 12th of August 2015 I think this picture was taken:

 

I haven't actually used Ubuntu properly and I have minimal experience with Linux. Will I be able to boot into Ubuntu off of a USB storage drive without installing anything and just navigate to C:\?

 

Forgive my ignorance, I can't even remember if deleting folders is easy enough on Linux, but the answer to that is just a Google search away... I'll look into it now. Thank you.

 

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by this; I've tried changing permissions.

 

All right, thank you. I will take a crack at it with the bootable USB method.

Interface - PCI Express Gen3 x4.. it's nvme.. however upon googling a bit, i found that it should be supported in Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS 

[Con]

41 minutes ago, Changis said:

Interface - PCI Express Gen3 x4.. it's nvme.. however upon googling a bit, i found that it should be supported in Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS 

Thank you. I've just installed it in VMware to get a feel for it before I start playing around in my host, and my goodness this is an intimidating OS to do the basics of file management with. I'm going to go through tutorials, it's a very useful OS and it's important to have some exposure to it so I'll just spend some time getting to grips with how it works.

[Changis]

10 hours ago, Con said:

Thank you. I've just installed it in VMware to get a feel for it before I start playing around in my host, and my goodness this is an intimidating OS to do the basics of file management with. I'm going to go through tutorials, it's a very useful OS and it's important to have some exposure to it so I'll just spend some time getting to grips with how it works.

if it's just deleting the folder, it shouldn't be too intimidating, just google for how to delete files in ubuntu..

if ytou just can't wrap your head around it, there is also another bootable recvovery iso which uses a stripped down windows version, but i'm not sure that is really legal so i won't share inormation about it, but it's one of the best known bootable recovery iso's out there